The Shattered American Dream

This survey of unemployed American workers documents dramatic erosion in the quality of life for millions of Americans. Their financial reserves are exhausted, their job prospects nil, their family relations stressed, and their belief in government's ability to help them is negligible. They feel hopeless and powerless, unable to see their way out of the Great Recession that has claimed 8.5 million jobs.The survey shows that only one-quarter of those first interviewed in August 2009 have found full-time jobs some 15 months later. And most of those who have become reemployed have taken jobs they did not really want for less pay. Moreover, the recession has wreaked havoc on the retirement plans of older workers.The Heldrich Center first interviewed a national sample of 1,202 unemployed workers in August 2009, using the web-enabled KnowledgePanel(R) conducted by Knowledge Networks of Menlo Park, CA. Just over 900 were re-interviewed in March 2010, and 764 were re-interviewed between November 5 and 28, 2010 for this report

American Workers Assess an Economic Disaster

Nearly three years into a devastating economic recession, American workers are deeply pessimistic about prospects for economic recovery. The majority believe that the nationas economy has undergone a fundamental and lasting change, according to American Workers Assess an Economic Disaster, a new nationwide Work Trends survey from the Heldrich Center.Some of the key findings of the national survey are:Nearly three in four (73%) Americans have been directly affected by a recession that is unprecedented in its length and severity. Nearly two in three of those surveyed expect the United States to still be in a recession next year; another 18% fear a depression is coming. More than half (56%) think the U.S. economy has undergone a fundamental and lasting change as opposed to a temporary downturn (43%). Fully 41% anticipate that the United States will be experiencing similar economic conditions a year from now while another quarter (27%) actually believes the economy will get worse before it gets better. Nearly 9 in 10 Americans (86%) who are still working express at least some concern about their job security; half of them report being very concerned

Massive enhancement of electron-phonon coupling in doped graphene by an electronic singularity

The nature of the coupling leading to superconductivity in layered materials such as high-Tc superconductors and graphite intercalation compounds (GICs) is still unresolved. In both systems, interactions of electrons with either phonons or other electrons or both have been proposed to explain superconductivity. In the high-Tc cuprates, the presence of a Van Hove singularity (VHS) in the density of states near the Fermi level was long ago proposed to enhance the many-body couplings and therefore may play a role in superconductivity. Such a singularity can cause an anisotropic variation in the coupling strength, which may partially explain the so-called nodal-antinodal dichotomy in the cuprates. Here we show that the topology of the graphene band structure at dopings comparable to the GICs is quite similar to that of the cuprates and that the quasiparticle dynamics in graphene have a similar dichotomy. Namely, the electron-phonon coupling is highly anisotropic, diverging near a saddle point in the graphene electronic band structure. These results support the important role of the VHS in layered materials and the possible optimization of Tc by tuning the VHS with respect to the Fermi level.Comment: 8 page

Vorsorgender Bodenschutz im Umwelt- und Agrarrecht - Bestandsaufnahme und Entwicklungsperspektiven

Der Themenkomplex 'vorsorgender Bodenschutz' wird in der Dissertation aus allen relevanten umwelt- und agrarrechtlichen Gesichtspunkten untersucht. Nach einem Überblick über die Grundlagen der Bodenkunde, des Vorsorgeprinzips im Umweltrecht und den politischen Bestrebungen zum vorsorgenden Bodenschutz folgt eine kritische Auseinandersetzung mit dem geltenden Umwelt- und Agrarrecht. Diese zeigt auf, dass in den unterschiedlichen bodenrelevanten Sektoren erhebliche Regelungsdefizite hinsichtlich des vorsorgenden Bodenschutzes vorherrschen. Die Verfasserin plädiert für eine Stärkung des vorsorgenden Bodenschutzrechts, um den zahlreichen Nutzungskonkurrenzen und Gefährdungspotenzialen, die durch die intensive und industrielle Nutzung des Bodens entstehen, zu begegnen. Dazu werden konkrete rechtspolitische Handlungsempfehlungen formuliert, die der Umweltpolitik und der Gesetzgebung als Anhalts- und Anknüpfungspunkt dienen sollen.

Quasiparticle Transformation During a Metal-Insulator Transition in Graphene

Here we show, with simultaneous transport and photoemission measurements, that the graphene terminated SiC(0001) surface undergoes a metal-insulator transition (MIT) upon dosingwith small amounts of atomic hydrogen. We find the room temperature resistance increases by about 4 orders of magnitude, a transition accompanied by anomalies in the momentum-resolved spectral function including a non-Fermi Liquid behaviour and a breakdown of the quasiparticle picture. These effects are discussed in terms of a possible transition to a strongly (Anderson) localized ground state.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Effect of Family Engagement on the Behavioral Health of Mentally Ill Offenders

In the United States, 40% of incarcerated individuals have been diagnosed with a mental health disorder, but they often lack the support system needed to navigate their incarceration. This study addressed ways to understand how family engagement opportunities can improve the behavioral health of mentally ill offenders. Specifically, five research questions were used to explore the degree to which the practice of family engagement was understood as a method for providing support to mentally ill incarcerated individuals. The study followed the Baldrige Framework of Excellence to identify current organizational leadership and management issues that can help reach its goals, improve results, and become more competitive. Several forms of data were used for this analysis including an interview with the bureau chief of mental health. Other data sources included internal and external organizational websites, secondary sources, policies and procedures, and public sources. Organization X’s Road map, the executive budget, an annual report, and a range of other secondary sources were also reviewed. The results of this study revealed that family members, staff, and peer supporters had an active role during the family engagement process. The results also revealed that the organization continued building community partnerships for offenders who had medical and mental health needs and were returning to the community. The workforce continued improving the operational needs of Organization X. The organization must work on different strategies to recruit and sustain employees within the organization. Research could be used for positive change by administrators to improve the outcomes for offenders

Comparing Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework (ACPF) practice placements for runoff mitigation and controlled drainage among 32 watersheds representing Iowa landscapes

Precision conservation planning tools can use high-resolution data to identify conservation practice-placement options for watershed improvement plans. Use of these tools across multiple watersheds could help to identify regional conservation strategies. This study evaluated practice-placement options determined using the Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework (ACPF) ArcGIS tools for controlled drainage (CD), contour buffer strips (CBS), water and sediment control basins (WASCOBs), and grassed waterways (GWWs) across 32 headwater hydrological unit code (HUC)12 watersheds in Iowa. The watersheds represented three Major Land Resource Areas (MLRAs) and four Agro-Hydrologic Landscape (AHL) classes, with four watersheds randomly chosen from each of eight combined MLRA-AHL landscape groupings. Placement options for the practices identified using the ACPF were quantified by watershed as densities (km km−2 of cropland) for GWWs, counts of proposed practice locations per square kilometer for CBS and WASCOBs, and as fractions of tile-drained land for CD. The influence of the landscape groupings on practice-placement densities among watersheds was tested using analysis of variance and contrast comparisons. Significant differences were found that led to nuanced interpretations. Differences attributed to slope steepness were captured by AHL classes, while differences attributed to slope shape and convergence were best captured by MLRA, which better segregated the watersheds based on landscape age and stream dissection. Grassed waterway placements showed minor differences among MLRAs but provided data to better inform the choices that ACPF users can make when running the GWW tool. The MLRA/AHL landscape classifications could be used together to develop effective regional conservation strategies using precision planning tools

Effects of high CO2 and warming on a Baltic Sea microzooplankton community

Global warming and ocean acidification are among the most important stressors for aquatic ecosystems in the future. To investigate their direct and indirect effects on a near-natural plankton community, a multiple-stressor approach is needed. Hence, we set up mesocosms in a full-factorial design to study the effects of both warming and high CO2 on a Baltic Sea autumn plankton community, concentrating on the impacts on microzooplankton (MZP). MZP abundance, biomass, and species composition were analysed over the course of the experiment. We observed that warming led to a reduced time-lag between the phytoplankton bloom and an MZP biomass maximum. MZP showed a significantly higher growth rate and an earlier biomass peak in the warm treatments while the biomass maximum was not affected. Increased pCO2 did not result in any significant effects on MZP biomass, growth rate, or species composition irrespective of the temperature, nor did we observe any significant interactions between CO2 and temperature. We attribute this to the high tolerance of this estuarine plankton community to fluctuations in pCO2, often resulting in CO2 concentrations higher than the predicted end-of-century concentration for open oceans. In contrast, warming can be expected to directly affect MZP and strengthen its coupling with phytoplankton by enhancing its grazing pressure